System C has signed a five-year contract with a consortium of GPs in Wiltshire providing services in the community that were traditionally delivered in the acute sector.
The new consortium is called Wilcare Health Ltd, and is one of the new forms of primary care organisation being promoted by the government.
Wilcare is in partnership with the local out of hours services and hospital-based consultants to provide care to 130,000 patients in North Wiltshire.
The first speciality to be offered will be Ear, Nose and Throat, with expansion into other specialities planned in the near future.
Wilcare has chosen System C’s Medway Sigma patient management software, which is most often found in the hospital sector, to manage the diversified service.
Jamie Brosch, part-time GP and medical director of Wilcare, said: “We selected Medway Sigma because it delivers a proven cost-effective, highly functional and configurable solution that is already compliant with the National Programme for IT.”
The software will allow the independent healthcare provider to manage patient referrals from the national Choose and Book service, to support its patient call centre and run clinics located in a number of sites such as community hospitals and GP surgeries.
“It is great to be working with a forward thinking consortium of GPs who are the forefront of delivering services in this emerging and exciting new area of healthcare,” said System C director Gary Davis.
For System C, which in recent years has specialised in the implementation of other vendors’ software within the national programme, the deal marks a significant move into community-based care.
Despite its switch to focus on implementation, System C remains at core a developer and supplier of health software. The firm has continued to invest in its Medway Sigma product range, which includes patient administration and electronic patient records, order communications, A&E, theatres and maternity.
Clients include the Isle of Man, Aintree University Hospitals and Tameside Hospital, together with many private sector treatment centres.
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